BJP lauds UP STF encounter of Asad Ahmed, trains guns at former CM Akhilesh Yadav

LUCKNOW: "Jo kahate hain, vo kar dikhaate hain.." (He does what he says) tweeted BJP Uttar Pradesh unit with video of CM Yogi Adityanath’s vidhan sabha speech of reducing the criminal into dust, to laud the encounter of Asad Ahmed, son of mafia-turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his aid Ghulam in Jhansi by UP special task force.

However, nearly three hours later, the BJP’s Twitter handle launched a scathing attack on Samajwadi party chief and former state CM and wrote, "Akhilesh Yadav has been blinded by the politics of appeasement and is deeply pained by the encounter of the criminals. He is showing sympathy towards them. Why should he be in pain, he had brought up these criminals with a lot of love, They are being destroyed by the BJP government(sic)."

The attack was continued on Yadav for his comment on the encounter, as state cabinet minister of Jal Shakti, Swatantra Dev Singh tweeted, "Whenever there is an attack on a criminal, terrorist, mafia, then a person (referring to Akhilesh Yadav) definitely stands in their support."

Similar attack was carried out by Gaurav Bhatia, the national spokesperson of BJP on tweet, "When the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath ji said on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha, 'The mafia will be reduced to soil', then Akhilesh ji felt the most pain. Today, when a criminal was killed, the public is happy, but there is mourning in the SP. Why after all? Don't see the criminal through the prism of religion."

Meanwhile, deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said, "There is no place left for criminals in UP, but only law. Mafias are being wiped out from the state and action is being taken against those who support them."

Earlier in the day deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "I congratulate UP STF. What happened with advocate Umesh Pal and two UP police constables, the same fate was to befall on their killers."

Another state cabinet minister Sanjay Nishad said, "Those who are carrying rewards should surrender to court and follow, as the UP government is committed to reduce criminals to dust."
After the encounter, Union Minister Giriraj Singh took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna and said, "He should learn from Yogi ji if law and order have to be maintained, to let common citizens feel safe."

While AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi in Telangana's Nizamabad said, "Will the BJP also shoot those who killed Junaid and Nasir? No, because you (BJP) do encounters in the name of religion. You want to weaken the rule of law, do encounter of the Constitution."